Michelin predicts 4-percent sales growth in 2000

PARIS (March 14)—Groupe Michelin, counting on rebounding sales in Asia and continued growth in Europe and North America, is forecasting 4-percent growth in sales and a double-digit improvement in pretax earnings for fiscal 2000. For 1999, the company suffered a 68.2-percent drop in net earnings, due almost entirely to provisions the company recorded to cover the costs of restructuring its European activities. Otherwise, the company´s pretax earnings jumped 14.9 percent, to $1.31 billion.